As the theater lights dimmed in the Academy Museum’s plush red David Geffen Theater on May 6, CalArtian attendees and industry partners settled into their seats to watch the juried selection of films for the 2025 Character Animation Producers’ Show. The lights dimmed as a Windows XP-esque desktop faded in on the screen, with a pair of disembodied voices pulling up a CalArts-themed film streaming service and clicking on Producers’ Show. Just as the audience prepared for the screening, the duo despaired once they were confronted with an all-too common nuisance—unskippable ads.
A three-minute sequence of five fictional ads flashed across the screen to laughter and applause, including:
- An aspirational call to experience nature by stepping outside and “touching grass”;
- Testimonials for RealYou capsule pills (“because realism is always better”);
- A jaunty commercial for Crunch Time snacks;
- An advertisement for the services of personal injury attorney Blue Wallace; and
- A MasterClass parody featuring Character Animation faculty Dariush Derakhshani.
The tongue-in-cheek opening sequence is the result of the combined efforts of a freshly graduated batch of Character Animation BFAs, with Tabs Wekerle (Film/Video BFA 25) leading the charge as producer and director. 24700 recently caught up with Wekerle to get the scoop on the experience.
“I started working on this project in September of 2024, right when the school year began,” Wekerle shared in an email interview. “I quickly realized I didn’t want to take this project on alone, as I knew there were amazing creatives with brilliant ideas in my class. So, I brought on four additional writers.” Wekerle enlisted the help of fellow BFA4 classmates Emma Bliese, Anya Butler, Lyly Hoang, and Ryan Mesidor, who met at least once a week every week from November 2024 to January 2025 to develop concepts.
“The first idea we presented was incredibly different than what we landed on. It started out as a horror comedy set at CalArts!” shared Wekerle. “Then, it turned into a wholesome sleepover story, and we eventually landed on the streaming and advertisement concept after more discussion. You truly had to be there to be able to see how we got from beginning to end! After we had the streaming idea, we presented 10 ad ideas to the rest of our classmates, who then decided on the final four (the MasterClass ad was a surprise)!”
Following the ideation phase, the team brought in their 30-odd classmates who were interested in working on the opening to bring their vision to life. Wekerle kept the project on track through spreadsheets and a Discord server, regularly checking in after Bliese, Butler, Hoang, and Mesidor became co-directors. After months of development, the team was finally able to share the final collection of shorts when the opening title’s streaming platform calartsplus.com—which is an actual portfolio website created by the class—graced the Geffen Theater’s silver screen.
Though the Producers’ Show opening title is her largest directing project to date, it was not Wekerle’s first time directing with others. She approached her third year film as an opportunity to bring other artists into her creative process.
“I decided I wanted to break the mold and see what it would be like to direct a team on a film, rather than working independently,” said Wekerle. “I put out a call both at CalArts and on social media, and I garnered a team of around 20 artists (animators, character designers, etc.) from around the world to work on my project.”
Though the artists signed on knowing they would be unpaid, Wekerle found success through Kickstarter to compensate them for their efforts. The result was “The Claw” (2024), the tale of a young shark who falls prey to a claw machine during a trip to a casino with his father.
For both experiences, Wekerle attributes their successes to the talent of her teams, claiming that the films would not have been possible “without the immense effort” of her class and co-directors.
“I am beyond grateful for the experience I had as this year’s Producers’ Show opening title director and producer,” shared Wekerle. “I’ve always been blown away by the work of the class of 2025, and it was truly an honor to get to work with all of them to create such a silly and entertaining opening for the Producers’ Show.”
Watch the 2025 Producers’ Show opening title sequence above, and find the playlist of student films below or at the CalArts Character Animation YouTube channel.
